Related papers: Can strings live in four dimensions?

We present a generalization of the string's Polyakov action that describes a conformally invariant four dimensional brane. The new extended object is very different from the traditional D-branes of string theory, but, nevertheless, shares…

We redo the quantization of the N=4 string, taking into account the reducibility of the constraints. The result is equivalent to the N=2 string, with critical dimension D=4 and signature (++--). The N=4 formulation has several advantages:…

This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…

We develop an exact functional method applied to the bosonic string on a shperical world sheet, in graviton and dilaton backgrounds, consistent with conformal invariance. In this method, quantum fluctuations are controled by the amplitude…

We present a way of constructing string solutions around non-trivial gravitational backgrounds. The proposed solutions are constructed using $N = 4$ superconformal building blocks with $\hat c = 4$. We give two different and inequivalent…

A string in four dimensions is constructed by supplementing it with forty four Majorana fermions. The central charge is 26. The fermions are grouped in such a way that the resulting action is supersymmetric. The super-Virasoro algebra is…

The implications of string theory for understanding the dimension of decompactified spacetime are discussed. Results from a computer model designed to simulate expansion of the early universe during the string dominated phase are presented.…

Beginning with a review of the arguments leading to the so-called c=1 barrier in the continuum formulation of noncritical string theory, the pathology is then exhibited in a discretized version of the theory, formulated through dynamical…

We explore the possibility of string theories in only four spacetime dimensions without any additional compactified dimensions. We show that, provided the theory is defined in curved spacetime that has a cosmological interpration, it is…

Starting from the Nambu-Goto bosonic string, a four dimensional superstring model is constructed using the equivalence of one boson to two Majorana-Weyl fermions. The conditions of anomaly cancellation in a 'heterotic' string theory lead to…

A solution of effective string theory in four dimensions is presented which admits interpretation of a rotating black cosmic string. It is constructed by tensoring the three dimensional black hole, extended with the Kalb-Ramond axion, with…

Starting from p-adic string theory with tachyons, we introduce a new kind of non-tachyonic matter which may play an important role in evolution of the Universe. This matter retains nonlocal and nonlinear p-adic string dynamics, but does not…

I consider a D+1 dimensional nonlinear $\sigma$ model based on a possible interpretation of the Liouville field as a physical time. The Weyl invariance of this theory gives us restrictions for the background fields and the parameters of the…

The bosonic string in D dimensional Minkowski space-time is quantized in static gauge. It is shown that the system can be described by D-1 massless free fields constrained on the surface L_m = 0, for m \neq 0, where L_m are the generators…

We show that $4$-dimensional Robertson-Walker spacetimes can be constructed for which all of the beta functions vanish to leading order, yielding consistent string theory without extra dimensions. We find that there is a unique static…

Dynamics of a free point particle on a multi world-line is presented and shown to reduce to that of a bosonic string theory at the appropriate limit. Other higher dimensional extended objects are argued to appear at other regions of the…

Using sigma-model approach, we study a class of coset spaces with torsion which compactify the D=26 closed bose-string theory. Requiring also that massless chiral fermions arise from the geometry/topology of coset space, we are left with…

We study the compactification of the pure spinor superstring down to four dimensions. We find that the compactified string is described by a conformal invariant system for both the four dimensional and for the compact six dimensional…

The new principle of constrained twistor-like variables is proposed for construction of the Cartan 1-forms on the worldsheet of the D=3,4,6 bosonic strings. The corresponding equations of motion are derived. Among them there are two…

We study the world-volume theory of a bosonic membrane perturbatively and discuss if one can obtain any conditions on the number of space-time dimensions from the consistency of the theory. We construct an action which is suitable for such…